06 232 Fuel Gauge / Sender Resistance?

[DEcosse]

I'm working my way through some electrical issues on my new-to-me 06 232.

The last one (I hope) is the Fuel Level Gauge.
It was showing E - I put about 3 gals in yesterday and it was still on 'E' - but since it's a 50 gal tank, I figured that wasn't too far off
However today, I started to put another 5 in - got about 3 and then Fuel starting pouring out the filler!
I checked gauge again and it's still showing E.

Does anyone know what the resistance range of the Fuel Level Sender is? (Full vs Empty)
I'd like to stick a resistor across the terminals to confirm if problem IS the sender, or something else (wiring, gauge itself)

How do I access the Level Sender?
I'm still finding my way around the boat - the wiring harness layout shows it on the right side, maybe either in the engine bay forward bulkhead or in the ski storage compartment?

232_Harness_Layout .png

[Titaniumboy]

This wiring harness “diagram” is a bit misleading. This is only showing the main harness and there are usually “branch” runs that connect between the main harness and the individual components. I’ve found that even the speakers have a connector between the speaker and main harness.

All this is a long way of saying that your fuel sender is not located where the main wiring harness says it it. Do you have a square floor panel in front of the rear bench like in the picture below? If so, look in there for access to the fuel sender.

5C8F041B-4FCB-4C3A-996C-F85A7526EFBF.jpeg

[DEcosse]

Thank you @Titaniumboy - my boat looks very similar to that from that view & just one year apart (if that's your boat, the 07 240)
As they say, an image is worth a thousand words!
I'll lift the carpet and take a look
Indeed, makes more sense that the Sensor would be located on the top horizontal surface of the tank, extending vertically down into it

[Titaniumboy]

No, that picture is from an actual 2006 232 and should be identical to your boat. My 2007 240 has a round deck access located under the in-floor storage for the table.

A common fuel sender setup uses 240 ohms at empty and 33 ohms at full.

Good luck and be sure to take pictures to share with us.

[DEcosse]

Thank you again!
That is indeed identical to mine - lifting the carpet was the key!

Problem is definitely the sender - the first obvious issue was that the connector set was REALLY BADLY corroded and one of the wires (on main harness side) just pulled right out of the terminal. I cut off the connectors completely (no way to resurrect those) and temporarily used a couple of Posi-Locks to connect the wires - but the wires themselves on the sender were also severely corroded. I cut a good 9-10" off and the conductors were still black inside - pretty sure they are going to be that way all the way.
(Off-season job is definitely going to be going through and replacing a whole bunch of connectors with sealed types - this was the same issue I had with the connector from the Neutra Salt Solenoid valve - corroded wire/terminal just pulled right out, although it was no-where near as horrible as the sender connector)

Still getting an 'E' reading on the gauge after connecting with the Posi-locks - but just not happy with the oxidation of the wires and couldn't get any kind of good reading with my Fluke. So new sender it will be.
I started to remove the sender then quickly realized the tank was absolutely full and I'm going to have to deplete it before I can remove and swap out.
But the good news is, there should be a lot of fun with 50 gallons to play with without much fear of running out for a while!

I'm wondering what length to buy - I measured the depth of the tank at that point (externally), right around 8"
So 200mm should be about right I would think?
edit -

Attention: 1 inch(25mm) clearance must be maintained between the tank bottom and the float retaining collar in addition to adjacent side or baffle of tank.

so perhaps 7" would be more appropriate length

I can wait until I can remove it to check the length but it would be nice to have in advance of removing it for a one and done job.

Something like this - https://www.amazon.com/ARTILAURA-240-33 ... 099HVXVRZ/

I could stick a resistor across the terminals to the gauge see what the correct range should be - if 240-33, 100 ohms should be right around the 1/2 mark.

Where is best source to buy OEM Cobalt parts and is there an on-line Parts Identifier anywhere?

Sorry - I didn't catch the pics request until after - but I do fully intend to add pics when I install the new one, at least to show the access and the sender location in the tank.

[Titaniumboy]

Cobalt has a policy of guaranteeing to have parts for boats 7 years old or younger, which kind of sucks for boats as old as ours. Anything older is a crap shoot.

Your local Cobalt dealer is usually the first choice, but I have had to use eBay or Amazon for some stuff. Great Lakes Skipper sometimes has OEM Cobalt parts.

Why are the wires so corroded? Has your boat seen salt?

While the lack of a swinging arm on your proposed sender is nice, I don’t think it is fully analog like your existing fuel sender. I think there are discrete contacts that are activated as the magnet rides up. That may or may not be an issue for you. See 5:15 in the video below.

[youtube]3DmI-T9WxHM[/youtube]





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[DEcosse]

Cobalt has a policy of guaranteeing to have parts for boats 7 years old or younger, which kind of sucks for boats as old as ours. Anything older is a crap shoot.

That is certainly frustrating - I can relate similarly to my 8 yr old Thermador fridge which I discovered had a bad control board - only to find the part was obsolete! Fortunately I'm an electronics engineer and was able to repair the old board

Why are the wires so corroded? Has your boat seen salt?

Yes, it has been used predominantly in the Puget Sound. It has low hours even the Salt in the air becomes a problem. The connectors in the Engine Compartment look mostly quite good - this one for the Fuel Sender connector was really ugly. Some kind of purge/blower in that Fuel Tank bay would be a nice adder. The wires on the main harness side looked quite good, the sender had the blackened copper - this process can be exacerbated by a poor contact to begin with at the connector. For the connectors, it would have been good practice to have used Sealed Type connectors or at least used di-electric grease in non-sealed connectors. I'll go through them all in the off-season and replace them.
A good source I use for connectors is Corsa Technic https://www.corsa-technic.com/category. ... 125&page=2
My favourite is the Sumitomo DL series

connectors.png

While the lack of a swinging arm on your proposed sender is nice, I don’t think it is fully analog like your existing fuel sender. I think there are discrete contacts that are activated as the magnet rides up.

Yes, I don't see it as a major issue for me - it will be approximately 1/8th steps but that is plenty of resolution for me.

Completely as an aside, this might be interesting item for our application:

I have a device on my Motorcycle developed by my friend called the FuelBot - this is an amazing device that gives an incredibly accurate assessment of the fuel level status without using ANY kind of float device - it measures the complete duration of the Fuel Injector Pulses over the course of a tankful - the initial calibration starts with a Full Tank, then use as much as you want till you choose to fill it (the more the better) - then enter the volume of Fuel per the filling station pump indicator to reach your starting point (i.e. full tank) and it does the computation so going forward. i.e. it has accumulated xxx ms of injector duration over say 40 gals, so it can actually predict extremely accurately from there on how much volume is left. When you open the throttle, the injector pulse is proportionately wider so it makes no difference how fast or slow the engine is at, the total duration is accurately recorded.
On the motorcycle you can also enter the tire size and it gives you a good 'range' predictor of how far you can go, as well as the % of tank remaining. Just tank % would be plenty for boat application but it could also have it be engine hours instead of miles.
This would be a superb device for a boat - the trim of the boat would have zero influence on it, as there is no float style device.

Sadly, after teasing you with this, I doubt if I could tempt him - he built a bunch of these for friends and associates, but they are a lot of work to put together in a one-man (hobby) operation and he withdrew from making more.

20160502_190044.jpg

20180809_135821_resized.jpg

[Titaniumboy]

What are Posi-Locks?

The round device at the bottom of the fuel tank in the picture below is where the sender is located, as you have discovered.

49398CB3-967E-4C1D-8223-88F8799E83A4.png

Is this your buddy that made the Fuelbot? Looks like a very cool device, but I can see where making those wiring harnesses would be a huge time sink.



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Have you found a way to access the VP engine data yet? I just discovered and installed a device last year to finally - after 15 years - access the Mercruiser engine data. Mercury lumps a whole bunch of different engine warnings into then same beep pattern, so it will be nice to finally be able to determine which specific fault is causing the warning beep.

[DEcosse]

What are Posi-Locks?

https://www.posi-products.com/

It's a in-line 'splice' that is re-usable or un-do-able vs a crimped barrel splice which cannot be undone without cutting it off.

The Posi-Tite is even better for wet application https://www.posi-products.com/positite.html

But I always have a number of Posi-Locks and Posi-Taps on hand in various wire gauges so used what I had. They will get replaced by sealed connectors later.

They are really nice devices. The Posi-Taps are a 'tee' splice - but not like those horrendous guillotine style ScotchLocks which WILL eventually saw their way through your conductor, as well as the sheathing. The Posi-Tap only makes a small pin hole in the sheath.

Is this your buddy that made the Fuelbot? Looks like a very cool device, but I can see where making those wiring harnesses would be a huge time sink.

Yes, that's him - that was the V1 though and that was much more complicated wiring (as illustrated in the video) It also used the OEM tach as the display device
The V2 on my bike as you can see is more self contained with its own LCD display and the wiring was MUCH simpler, with essentially 4 wires for power, ground, Speedo signal and Injector Signal. But the assembly was still quite involved. The fun for him is in the development and I've told him he doesn't charge enough for his product which is why he loses interest in making them
I was chatting with him last night and he has also been playing with a V3 - which interestingly uses a capacitive sensor comprising a length of 12 ga wire in a copper tube! He has got it to 2% accuracy. That one of course is an immersive sensor - I loved the concept of the V2 (& V1 before) where it has no true physical sensor but purely a calculated amount based on the injector pulses. It sounds vague I'm sure but that one was also incredibly accurate, also 2%.

Have you found a way to access the VP engine data yet? I just discovered and installed a device last year to finally - after 15 years - access the Mercruiser engine data.

I haven't yet found that - but nor have I looked for it, but surely will! It's almost a must-have when you have an EFI system.

Off topic - I sent an inquiry to Cobalt asking if they could give me the original vendor/manufacturer of their Bimini tops from back then so I could contact them to see if they had original patterns; I did get a reply but said they made them themselves but did not retain the patterns (the latter I find hard to believe - why would you not keep that, even when old company was acquired?) But moot as it was a dead end regardless.

My short term goals are to fix the Fuel Sensing, source a Bimini, and source a Fresh Water Cooling kit for that motor.
I may be adding another problem to the list - there is water being thrown off the fan belt, leaving a mark around the engine cover; so something leaking around there - it's a relatively small leak, I suspect it may be the water pump.

[Titaniumboy]

For the connectors, it would have been good practice to have used Sealed Type connectors or at least used di-electric grease in non-sealed connectors. I'll go through them all in the off-season and replace them.
A good source I use for connectors is Corsa Technic https://www.corsa-technic.com/category. ... 125&page=2
My favourite is the Sumitomo DL series

I did a deep dive into the connectors used on my boat a long time ago. Virtually all of the connectors used (except for connectors on the dash breakers and switches) are Universal Mate-N-Lok made by Amp. Cross that out, made by Tyco. Scratch that one out also, made by TE Connectivity. Be careful in that there is a Commercial Mate -N-Lok that is not compatible with the Universal Mate -N-Lok.

https://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ ... 975686.pdf

While the Mouser catalog page does not show it, the Universal Mate-N-Lok system does have a way to seal the connectors. I think you would have to disengage the pins and sockets from their respective housings in order to install the wire seals, but at least you wouldn’t have to cut off and reterminate every single connection.
https://www.customconnectorkits.com/con ... atalog.pdf

5831A756-EB52-4CE3-9D12-E0F1C6C056D1.png

I am 99% sure that the Molex MLX series is interchangeable with the Universal Mate-N-Lok connectors.

39FBA72B-673A-4EB4-AE5B-AC6782B203B2.png

Here is an older CobaltChat thread regarding the Universal Mate-N-Lok connectors.
viewtopic.php?p=10481&hilit=Mate+n+lok#p10481

[Titaniumboy]

It's a in-line 'splice' that is re-usable or un-do-able vs a crimped barrel splice which cannot be undone without cutting it off.

The Posi-Tite is even better for wet application https://www.posi-products.com/positite.html

But I always have a number of Posi-Locks and Posi-Taps on hand in various wire gauges so used what I had. They will get replaced by sealed connectors later.

They are really nice devices. The Posi-Taps are a 'tee' splice - but not like those horrendous guillotine style ScotchLocks which WILL eventually saw their way through your conductor, as well as the sheathing. The Posi-Tap only makes a small pin hole in the sheath.

Those are pretty neat. Are they a one-time connection, or can they be repeatly disconnected and reconnected? I have an application in a Seadoo personal watercraft where I want to put a quick disconnect on the battery terminals. Easy enough but there is a small third wire that would also need some sort of quick disconnect.

Those ScotchLocks are the devils creation. My boat trailer from the Cobalt dealer had ScothLocks for every single connection on the trailer. Bastards. Even boating in exclusively fresh water those damn things starting giving me problems within two years. I had to spend a day ripping all of those connectors off and soldering all of the connections. I eventually learned the hard way to put the heat shrink tubing on the wire BEFORE soldering. This was over ten years ago and today I would have used the heat shrink butt connectors that already come pre-glued.

Off topic - I sent an inquiry to Cobalt asking if they could give me the original vendor/manufacturer of their Bimini tops from back then so I could contact them to see if they had original patterns; I did get a reply but said they made them themselves but did not retain the patterns (the latter I find hard to believe - why would you not keep that, even when old company was acquired?) But moot as it was a dead end regardless

Cobalt has always prided themselves on doing all of the upholstery and canvas work in-house. I guess they ran out of pattern storage?

Unless you are lucky enough to find another 2006 232 owner who is willing to loan you his bimini to use as a pattern, I think you will need to visit a local canvas shop.

[DEcosse]

Yes, all the Posi-Products are re-usable for multiple use application.
Check out their on-line store, it's as cheap as anywhere else you can find on line (and often cheaper)

I don't believe those mate-locks are capable of (well, designed for) seals. And typically (almost universally) you place the seal over the wire before you crimp on the terminal and then the lower part of the seal also gets crimped into the insulation 'legs' of the terminal so it remains captive on the terminal as you install or remove the terminals from the housings
Even if they were, I'd rather start completely clean with new terminals and better housings.
The other series I like, if doing higher current applications are MetriPack 280 and 630series.

On that same Corsa Technic site see this Hozan P-706 crimper https://www.corsa-technic.com/item.php? ... gory_id=86
You can also find on Ebay but if you're buying connectors, the one-stop-shop saves on additional shipping anyway
That is my go-to crimp tool & I've used that to do many hundreds of crimps. It's completely manual and you effectively do two crimps, one for the conductor and one for the insulation/seal (with different size section of the jaws for each) but it does a perfect job.

[Titaniumboy]

Even if they were, I'd rather start completely clean with new terminals and better housings.

Oh dear, you are going to have a heart attack when you see the sheer number of connectors under the dash.

Like you, I was skeptical of the open nature of the Universal Mate-N-Lok when we first bought the 240. But time has proven me wrong as the connections still look great after 15 years. Granted that we boat only in fresh water and have never been in salt water yet.

It would be interesting to see how good - or bad - your underdash connectors look after 16 years of being around salt.

In case you want to reconsider just adding seals to the existing connectors, here is the Instruction Sheet on how to use and apply the splashproof seals on the Universal Mate-N-Lok connectors.

https://www.te.com/commerce/DocumentDel ... 7F794277-1

[DEcosse]

I stand corrected! Thank you for that info

[DEcosse]

I ended up selecting this one - perhaps better quality USA made, all stainless steel

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y831R2K

It came with a new seal and screws (which was fortunate since the original screws would have been too long!)

The OEM sender was 8" long; I measured 10" from the mounting flange of the tank to the base; I ordered a 9" replacement, following the recommendation to leave 1" clearance from bottom of sender.
So with the original sensor there was actually about 20% fuel left when on 'E' - now on 'E' there will be about 10% left.

Incidentally, on the old sender - I cleaned up the oxidation off the wires to clear copper (weak acid solution- - like vinegar will do it) and was measuring 30-240 across the range; however when submerged it was stuck at 240 ohms. The float itself was not stuck but apparently is leaking and not 'floating'

I did use my PosiTaps temporarily, have new sealed connectors en-route

And of course, confirmation, yes, it now registers on the gauge!

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